Catholic Roots And Democratic Flowers

Spain and Portugal have recently adopted European-style democratic and political systems. Yet their pattern of historical development is distinctive and, in many respects, their political systems still reflect unique features. In this provocative text Wiard and Mott analyze the special features of Spanish history: the Catholic tradition, seven centuries of Moorish rule, the Christian Reconquest, and the special nature of Spanish feudalism and nationalism. Building on these foundations, the authors analyze Spanish and Portuguese modern history, the regimes of Franco and Salazar, and the recent transitions to democracy. Successive chapters deal with class structure and interest groups, political parties and elections, the structure of the state and state-society relations, regional politics, and patterns of public policy. While becoming more European socially, culturally, and politically, these two Iberian political systems show also some remarkable continuities with the past, including notions of organic democracy, neocorporatism, and tensions between regionalism and centralism, democracy and authoritarianism, and religiousity and secularism. Students and scholars involved with European politics, comparative politics, Iberian Studies, and transitions to democracy will find this an accessible and provocative analysis.

Ultimately it is only with a renewed approach to U.S. policy - one that includes respectfully engaging with the myriad histories and cultures of the region - that we can hope to encourage strong and effective democratic traditions."--Jacket.

Representing a unique reference tool for readers interested in history, criminology, or terrorism, this book provides the most complete and up-to-date coverage of assassinations of key figures throughout history and around the world. Effecting the death of a political figure, a leader of a nation, or a public figure usually captures people's attention. But how often is assassination effective to achieve the larger objective beyond the death of the targeted individual? Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia offers more than 200 entries on assassinations of all kinds that will allow readers to grasp the often-complex motivating factors behind each event and better understand historical and contemporary social unrest. Each entry identifies the assassination target and summarizes that person's significance; discusses the person's assassination, including the factors that led up to it and its political and cultural contexts; and explains the powerful effects of the assassination in world history. The encyclopedia also includes various sidebars that spotlight relevant individuals, groups, and movements and present intriguing factoids such as the final disposition of notorious assassins' weapons and various films and novels that were inspired by famous assassinations. In addition, 23 primary source documents provide accounts of assassinations throughout world history.

Presenting case studies from sixteen countries on five continents, The Catholic Church and the Nation-State paints a rich portrait of a complex and paradoxical institution whose political role has varied historically and geographically. In this integrated and synthetic collection of essays, outstanding scholars from the United States and abroad examine religious, diplomatic, and political actions—both admirable and regrettable—that shape our world. Kenneth R. Himes sets the context of the book by brilliantly describing the political influence of the church in the post-Vatican II era. There are many recent instances, the contributors assert, where the Church has acted as both a moral authority and a self-interested institution: in the United States it maintained unpopular moral positions on issues such as contraception and sexuality, yet at the same time it sought to cover up its own abuses; it was complicit in genocide in Rwanda but played an important role in ending the horrific civil war in Angola; and it has alternately embraced and suppressed nationalism by acting as the voice of resistance against communism in Poland, whereas in Chile it once supported opposition to Pinochet but now aligns with rightist parties. With an in-depth exploration of the five primary challenges facing the Church—theology and politics, secularization, the transition from serving as a nationalist voice of opposition, questions of justice, and accommodation to sometimes hostile civil authorities—this book will be of interest to scholars and students in religion and politics as well as Catholic Church clergy and laity. By demonstrating how national churches vary considerably in the emphasis of their teachings and in the scope and nature of their political involvement, the analyses presented in this volume engender a deeper understanding of the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the world.

This book analyzes the main competing grand theories in the social sciences, including developmentalism, dependency analysis, Marxism, institutionalism, rational choice, Freudianism, environmentalism, sociobiology, neurosciences, and transitions to democracy.

"In Development on the Periphery, noted textbook author Howard J. Wiarda tackles the important question of development in Southern and Eastern Europe. Comparing the two regions gives us insight into the similarities and differences that have united and separated them for thousands of years."--Jacket.

Wiarda provides a new edition of a pioneering exploration of Latin American political culture, the autoritarian tradition, and the recent transitions to democracy and the special meaning of that term in the Latin American context. The volume contains a provocative Introduction and Conclusion by the editor as well as essays by leading scholars of Latin American politics and history: Richard Morse, Octavio Paz, Glen Dealy, Peter Smith, and others. This is a classic collection, newly revised and updated.

Howard J. Wiarda is one of the leading global scholars of international relations, comparative politics, and foreign policy, and the author/editor of more than sixty books. Now in this highly personal and swashbuckling account, Professor Wiarda tells the stories that lie behind the research: his adventures in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and South Africa. Complementing his academic work, these three volumes are filled with impressions, research findings, gossip, and preliminary ideas and concepts-the true "stuff" of how scholarly books get written. For Wiarda has had a remarkable life: in some of the nation's leading universities, academic policy work in the State and Defense Departments, and denizen of the Washington think tanks. He has also lived abroad for extensive periods and traveled widely in some of the world's most troubled and exciting places. These books tell the story of his "adventures in research."

Applying an intercultural and comparative theoretical approach across Asia and Africa, this book analyses the rise and moderation of political movements in developing societies which mobilise popular support with references to conceptions of cultural identity. The author includes not only the Hindu nationalist movement but also many Islamist political movements in a single category – New Cultural Identitarian Political Movements (NCIPM). Demonstrating significant similarities in the pattern of evolution between these and European Christian Democracy, the book provides an instrument for the analysis of these movements outside the parameters of the fundamentalism debate. The book looks at a number of key variables for understanding the evolution of NCIPM, and it goes on to analyse the transition of developing societies from rent-based political economies to capitalism and the (partial) failure of this transition process. It argues that there is a need to incorporate economic and class analysis in the study of political processes in developing societies against the continuing emphasis on cultural factors associated with the "cultural turn" of social sciences. The book is an interesting contribution to studies in South Asian Politics, as well as Comparative Politics.